Tizen App Challenge to Pay More than $4 Million in Prizes to Developers

Contest to unlock new device categories and new users for application developers

SAN FRANCISCO, July 9, 2013 – Today marks the launch of the Tizen App Challenge, a skills-based contest that calls on application developers to build the best new apps that redefine mobile experiences.

A total of $4.04 million will be awarded to more than 50 developers in nine categories, providing an incredible opportunity to tap a new mobile ecosystem while reaping unprecedented reward.

The Tizen App Challenge is open today with all submissions due by November 1, 2013. Judging will take place November 4 – November 25, 2013, and winners will be announced in December. An award ceremony recognizing the grand prize winners will be held in 2014.

Tizen is an open source, standards-based software platform supported by leading mobile operators, device manufacturers, and silicon suppliers for multiple device categories such as smartphones, tablets, netbooks, in-vehicle infotainment devices and smart TVs.

Tizen offers a best-in-class HTML5 environment for creating native apps on the platform. This offers robust capabilities and cross platform flexibility that allow developers to write applications that run across multiple device segments. The platform offers a fast, simple and affordable path to creating and supporting new offerings and is designed to make it easy to develop for a range of devices.

The new Tizen Software Development Kit 2.2 (SDK 2.2) can now be used for Tizen app developers who want to take full advantage of the improved APIs and new, powerful features of the release.

“As a Linux Foundation Collaborative Project, Tizen and the growing community can focus on building apps and the ecosystem that supports the platform,” said Mike Woster, chief operating officer and vice president at The Linux Foundation “The Tizen App Challenge will help surface the very best apps for Tizen users and will give developers an opportunity to get in early on developing for this important platform.”

Grand prizes for the Games categories are $200,000, and grand prizes for the Non-Games categories are $120,000. Games will be judged based upon scores in four criteria: entertainment value, visual design, performance, and controls and input. Non-games will be judged based upon scores in four criteria: usefulness, visual design, performance, and controls and input. The top 10 HTML5 apps will be eligible for an additional prize of $50,000 each.

The Tizen Project is an open source Collaborative Project at the Linux Foundation. Linux Foundation Collaborative Projects are independently funded software projects that harness the power of collaborative development to fuel innovation across industries and ecosystems. The Tizen project is governed by a Technical Steering Group that focuses on platform development and delivery along with the formation of working groups to support device verticals. For more information about the Tizen and to get involved, please visit: https://www.tizen.org/.